Murders, disappearances, sexual violence, kidnappings, torture, ill-treatment, forced displacements… In a report entitled Mass graves, violations and human rights abusesPublished on Friday, August 30, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (Manul) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) bring out of oblivion the crimes committed between 2013 and 2020 by the Kaniyat militia against the civilian population of the city of Tarhouna, and denounce “the impunity enjoyed by those responsible for these violations and abuses of human rights” until today.
According to data collected by local authorities’ investigators, at least 353 bodies have been exhumed from mass graves. More than 90% of them have been found. “hands tied and eyes blindfolded” and mostly presented “bullet wounds”investigators say. As of early 2024, hundreds of people were still missing. “Mass graves continue to be identified”The report explains, noting that satellite images have revealed a hundred mass graves.
The leaden reign of the Kaniyat The history of Tarhouna dates back to the fall of the dictatorial regime of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. His rise to the head of the local authorities thanks to his participation in the movement revolutionary known as “February 17” and the dislocation of central power, the militia commanded by the Kani family, composed of members of various family and tribal affiliations, installed a nano State, enriching itself “through smuggling and tax collection in exchange for the provision of public services, made possible by their control over police and military units, the city council and the judicial system,” The report details. The report is based on field visits and interviews with more than fifty survivors and relatives of victims.
The first documented violence dates back to 2013, when “Entire families are believed to have participated in the murder” from a member of the Kani family were “murdered” and their bodies “publicly exposed to spreading terror in the city”. Despite the integration of these militiamen into the 7thmy Fisent Al-Sarraj’s brigade of the Government of National Accord, based in Tripoli and later recognized by the international community, continue to regularly attack “civilians, including their opponents, either by executing entire families or killing only the male members of their family.”
Responsibility for the crimes remains “difficult to establish”
Since 2019, violence has increased considerably. With the offensive launched on Tripoli by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, at the head of Cyrenaica, the Kaniyat changed sides and pledged allegiance to his self-proclaimed Libyan National Army (LNA), becoming its 9th.my brigade and receiving weapons and money. “ Although the assault on Tripoli ultimately failed, the Kaniyat persisted in committing violations and abuses of international law and human rights.specifies the report. Satellite images show that most of the mass graves at Tarhouna were also dug around this time. »
The recapture of the city by pro-government forces during the counter-offensive, also accompanied by serious acts of violence against civilians suspected of having remained loyal to the Kaniyat, was accompanied by numerous macabre discoveries and made us aware of the extent of the system of terror established by the militia. Most of its elements fled to the east of the country, controlled by the forces of Marshal Khalifa Haftar. Some of them joined other contingents of the ANL.
Today, “It remains difficult to determine responsibility for the crimes committed in Tarhouna,” “Investigators regret that a United Nations (UN) commission of inquiry drew up a list of suspected perpetrators and the Libyan justice system issued arrest warrants against some of them, but these efforts came to naught.” partly due to long-standing political loyalties and alliances between the alleged perpetrators, some of whom may have fled to neighboring countries, and powerful actors in Libya’s political and security institutions based in the east and west. The report explains. In 2023, the independent international fact-finding mission on Libya had already discovered “reasonable grounds” believe that the members of Kaniyat committed “crimes against humanity”questioning the chain of responsibility since the hierarchical superiors (the general staff of the Libyan national army, including Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar) and their supporters (including foreign powers such as France) can be considered co-responsible for these crimes.
In the absence of justice, UN investigators are alarmed by the perpetuation of the cycle of violence. At a forum in WorldDated December 26, 2023, the Association of Relatives of Victims of Tarhuna made the same observation: “Left behind, some [habitants] They warn that they also risk joining the ranks of the militias and leading the region into a new spiral of violence.
